Let’s Plant Life Seeds!- Seed#2:RELATIONSHIPS

There are 5 things things in life that we know are important, but do not treat with much importance. You see, simply knowing is useless until what we know is applied and manifested in our behavior or actions.

2. WHAT YOU PLANT IN YOUR EARLY YEARS, YOU WILL REAP IN YOUR LATER YEARS.

Some people would see our life as a book, and we’re the authors.For this time, I want us to picture our life as a garden and we’re the gardeners planting the seeds that we will reap later in our life.

Today, let’s talk about the second seed- RELATIONSHIPS.

“Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.”- Ephesians 4:2

There are 3 important relationships in our life: Our relationship with our Self. Our relationship with Others. And our relationship to God. IF we’re doing great on all these 3 relationships, I believe 100% that we can truly be happy.

Relationship with your Self.

According to Rick Warren, the author of Purpose Driven Life, there are 2 things that prevents us from reaching our highest potential. Number one is wishing that we are somebody else (perhaps the person that you admire or envy); and number two is people-pleasing (to the extent that we do things that we may not really like to do but do anyways in order to be accepted). Both of these are destructive because it prevents us from accepting our selves as we are!

When you look at the person in the mirror, who do you see?

Do you see the failure or the fighter that keeps going no matter how many times he fell?

Do you see the ugly because you do not fit to the norms of society or the unique person who is confident in his own kind of beautiful?

Do you see the prideful being who cannot let go of past hurts or the forgiving loving person who choose to believe that there is still goodness in others despite negative past experiences?

Be careful what you seed you are nourishing to your self. You become who you think you are. Make your “I AM” positive.

Relationship with your Others.

Do you want to know how you impact your family or friends? Why not try this simple test. Ask yourself: When you’re around them, do they become happier or gloomier or no change at all?

When I like a person, I light up when they’re around me. I feel much happier, I feel inspired, I feel like the best in me comes out.

When I don’t like a person, I don’t hang out with him for too long. Otherwise, I feel like all the positive energies in me are being sapped out and my monster tendency is slowly coming out!

Now there are also times when I’m around people who do not affect me much. They may be around or not and I won’t care- my world continues to revolve.

Obviously, we all want to have that positive impact to others. We all want to be desirable because we affect them in such a way that they become their best. Just like how it is stated in Proverbs 27:17, “As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.”

But how are we as spouses, partners, parents, sons & daughters, and friends? Do we communicate in a positive tone? Do we deliberately set time to bond and enjoy each others’ company? Do we give enough encouragement and affirmation? Do we give more than we get? Do we seek more to listen and understand rather than set rules and so be it? Are we trusted and reliable friends or are we just friends when we can benefit from the friendship? Do you prioritize people or material things?

We all want to be successful, but it’s also important to consider who you will be celebrating your life’s successes with! Nourish your Relationship seeds. You will be grateful for it later in life.

Relationship with God.

I am in my mid-30’s and it is embarrassing for me to admit that I have not read the whole Bible. I know that having a deeper spiritual relationship with God is knowing Him more. And the only way for me to get to know Him is to read other people’s account of Him thru the Scriptures.

Like many others, I know about God, but I did not know Him. I’m still a baby in my walk as a Christian. But I’m trying to have this closer relationship with Him now. I still fail most of the time, God is very patient with me. I delight in knowing that He’s mg Father and He loves me and He’s always just a prayer away. (Isn’t it amazing how we can just talk to Him whenever we want, wherever we want?)

Because I know that God loves me, I can love myself and accept even my undesirable traits.Because I know that God loves me at my darkest, it is easier for me to love, understand and forgive others.

27 thoughts on “Let’s Plant Life Seeds!- Seed#2:RELATIONSHIPS”

Nina!!! Ok- I don’t even know where to begin. I really needed to read this right now. Thank you for sharing all this with us– especially about Rick Warren’s two points- WOAH. I feel like sometimes I live my life in comparison/people-pleasing and I don’t realize how absolutely destructive that is. Thanks for the reminder. I hope you are doing so well!

Hi Mack! Thank you for dropping by. I could relate with you. I think most of us fall into this because there’s a thin line between being nice and people-pleasing. I guess the difference is that being nice is meant to serve others whereas the latter is meant to satisfy our need to be recognized and liked in return. Perhaps it helps to check the motives of our actions and behaviors sometimes… ☺

Of course!! Wow- I don’t think I have ever heard anyone word it so eloquently! I love that… serve vs. being served (in disguise as “people pleasing” to ultimate serve ourselves— that’s so insightful). Also— I have NO idea what happened but somehow I wasn’t following you anymore?! I went through and unfollowed people that weren’t posting anymore about a month ago and I must have accidentally unfollowed you then! I’m so sorry! But glad I caught it– I just thought you hadn’t been posting. I’ve got some catching up to do! ❤

No problem Mack! I experience accidental things like that too! 😊 It’s nice having exchanges with you again. I hope you have fun catching up. I definitely have catching ups to do too! Have a wonderful day Mack! 😊💛

Good post, Nina! I know there were some early seeds I planted which I now regret and am paying for in certain ways. We shall not dwell on them here, but they have cost me a good bit in my “older” life. Still, God loves me and has blessed me and continues to do so. And I love Him and His Son Jesus Christ forever…

I love how you talk about our relationship with God. I can totally relate to you right now. I think it is often very hard for those of us who’ve grown up in a christian home, to understand how important it is to really be in the Word and study it. Growing up in the environment I did, I knew all the “right stuff” and the “right answers”. I knew all about God, but didn’t really know God. It wasn’t till recently over the past couple years that I’ve come to recognize that.
Recently, a co-worker of mine got saved and is really on fire right now. I’ve started meeting with him and some others once a week to study the Word, and it’s been so great! It’s so refreshing to get away from the “religious” stuff and really talk about what it means to be a follower of Christ. Even though he’s so new to the faith, he’s already been teaching me so much. What I love about when we meet is he’ll ask us basic fundamental questions that we easily can answer with christian rhetoric, but then he’ll turn around and tell us to back up what we just said in scripture. He’s not doing that to question what we believe, but he wants us to know why we believe it and turn to a specific section in the Bible that validates what we’re saying. It’s really helping me develop a desire to read the Word more.
1 Peter 3:15 says, “but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence;” I want to be able to do that!

Hi Allen,
Thank you for your generous comment! I’m happy to know that you’re having a weekly meeting to nourish your christian life. That is something that I would really like to do too. Sometimes, it’s easier to grow spiritually and do away from temptations when we have other christians supporting us in our walk.
Have great weekend Allen! ☺

How To Be Happy?

#1- Make face in front of the mirror...
#2- Do or say something nice for others #3- Pray for yourself, for the people you love, and the people who do not like you
#4- Forgive and ask for forgiveness...
#5- Have someone to love, and do something you love...

Quotable Quote!

"There are two ways to live: you can live as if nothing is a miracle; you can live as if everything is a miracle."- Albert Einstein